As any company grows, that crazy little backlog of things we need to do grows too. The best problem is that our organization continues to build a long list of loyal customers. The employees have secure positions and stay happily busy. It is also time for “Growing Pains” – hard work that will need additional hands to deliver excellent quality.
Let’s say that I see a juggler who can keep 5 tennis balls in the air at the same time. Pretty awesome! Software engineers are just like that talented juggler – able to take care of a lot of activity with hard work and concentration. You have an assistant who is ready to catch one of the tennis balls when you throw it. Let’s call a tennis ball you throw to the assistant “completed work.” Once you complete one of those juggling tasks, your assistant knows to throw the next tennis ball in – new work! This is a good situation because you can be confident of speed with precise quality.
But, let’s say you unexpectedly have a couple other uninvited assistants show up. Instead of having 1 tennis ball come in from 1 assistant, you get 3 thrown to you at the same time. Suddenly, that skill that can juggle 5 balls becomes 7 tennis balls going all directions. You have no chance of throwing one of those completed work balls over to the first assistant. Nothing gets done.
I have seen a discipline that helps: it is called Backlog Management. In Backlog Management, everybody at the circus knows that the juggler can have only one assistant who knows when to throw in the next tennis ball. Sound simple? Nope! Backlog Management takes discipline and other teammates to help that juggler and assistant be productive. This discipline is hard.
Here are the guidelines for IT Backlog Management.
- Understand the request. For any new tennis ball that comes to the Backlog Management process, the work must be triaged and classified. Is the request a defect or an enhancement? Is it a new customer on-boarding or a new feature? Is it an upgrade to infrastructure, or a replacement?
- Understand the effort: In the past, our team has juggled before, and we know how long each of those tennis balls will be in the air. Backlog Management makes note of how long each tennis ball will be juggled and finally be completed. For our work, this is the “accurate historical estimate.”
- Understand the team. For a team with many job roles (project manager, analyst, engineer, operations, etc), Backlog Management must consider how many are available, and how they are utilized.
- Set a priority: Each effort should have a corresponding cost and value. The higher the value combined with the lower cost is one indicator of big opportunity. Regulatory work to keep our company safe is another priority. Any lack of quality in production will get a vote from me to be very high priority.
- Build a plan: Now we have all of our tennis balls lined up and ready to be part of the show. We want to move faster than “Do priority one,” then “Do priority two.” We would only have one tennis ball going. Doesn’t sound like juggling to me. Instead, planners arrange tennis balls to be sent in combinations by priority and have our juggler show some great skill. The plan sends in as much as is possible at high quality and maintains the pace.
- Align the teams: Let’s say that our company becomes a big circus (in a good way) and we bring in additional jugglers who can join the show. The tennis balls can be arranged in the plan again to keep more work in the air.
- Stay the course: This is a temptation: I see so many tennis balls waiting to be done that I might yell, “Throw me one more.” But what if I have never done 6 tennis balls at once before? My assistant should look at the plan and follow it instead.
What should I see if Backlog Management works?
If we set up Backlog Management, the company should see some excellent results:
- Quality maintains visible excellence
- Work has a predictable start and finish due to planning and accurate estimates
- High priority items come through faster than lower priority ones
- Because the team stays the course due to the plan, work hours become more predictable
- Work / Life balance improves
The last point is an important measure for me as a leader. Employees receive tasks and do quality work on an aggressive schedule. The team works together to the schedule of the plan. Each contributes well and we get to have frequent successes and celebrations.
What is my best measure of success? We enjoy the amount of work, we enjoy the success that comes with it, and we build a long and meaningful career together. IT careers come with extra effort, but that time with our family, hobbies and friends cannot be replaced.